BROCKTON, Mass. – Nineteen years after angrily leaving the Red Sox for three days because of an All-Star snub, Dennis “Oil Can” Boyd finally became an All-Star last night.

Boyd, 45, faced two batters here in a game pitting All-Stars from the independent Can-Am and Central leagues. The always colorful, never bashful right-hander has a 2-2 record with a 4.61 ERA for the Brockton Rox this season, which according to him is nowhere near his last.

“I’m made of baseball, so there’s no other place for me to be,” Boyd said before the game. “There’s no question of what I’ll be doing after the game is over. The game will never be over for me until I’m dead. Whatever happens to Oil Can, I’ll always be me until the day I die on a baseball field. It has been my life and it will always be my life.”

Right now, Boyd is delighting fans and stumping batters in this working-class town that was the hometown of fighters Rocky Marciano and Marvin Hagler. Pitching just 22 miles from Boston, where he starred for the Red Sox for eight seasons two decades ago, Boyd has been embraced by fans.

Boyd received one of the loudest ovations during pregame introductions last night and signed autographs for fans while the start of the game was delayed for 2 ½ hours by a thunderstorm and power outage.

“He probably signs more autographs than anybody in the whole league,” Rox manager Ed Nottle said. “He never says no to anybody.”

Boyd entered the game in the sixth inning and retired both batters he faced, helping the Can-Am League to a 3-2 victory.

The “Can” went 78-77 in a 10-year big-league career that ended in 1991 and included stints with the Expos and Rangers. But he was known as much for his antics as he was for his ability – like the episode in 1986 when he went AWOL from the Sox after not making the American League All-Star team.

“I’ve been blessed that somebody is always going to want to see me pitch somewhere no matter when,” he said. “They say Oil Can Boyd is pitching and he’s 102 years old, they’re going to come out and see me throw it up to the plate at 102 years old.”

Players who were just toddlers when Boyd helped the Sox win the 1986 AL pennant now call him a teammate. Since leaving the majors, Boyd has played for various independent teams both in the U.S. and Mexico. He had not played since 1997, though, when he joined the Rox in May.

Boyd’s appearance did nothing to inspire confidence in his young colleagues. With specks of gray hair, glasses and still as skinny as a supermodel at 155 pounds, many wondered what Boyd was even doing on during their training camp.

“I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I got here,” said 27-year-old Rox reliever Joey Cole. “You see him at a first glance you’re thinking can this guy really still throw the baseball? And he damn sure can. He’s done a hell of a job.”

Unlike most players in the independent leagues, Boyd does not have aspirations to pitch in the majors again. Instead he is trying to organize a barnstorming team called “Oil Can and the Traveling All-Stars.” His dream is to emulate his idol, Satchel Paige, who pitched into his 60s.

So, what’s the secret to that arm that can’t throw 90 miles per hour anymore but still finds a way to get people out?

“I think it’s a lot of mind over matter,” Nottle said. “He’s the kind of guy that’s 12 years old and he’s going to be 12 when he’s 80.”

And he hopes to be coming to a mound near you.

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Oil Can-do

Dennis “Oil Can” Boyd, now 45 years old, was scheduled to pitch in the Can-Am-Central League All-Star Game last night. Here’s how his stats from 1986 with the Red Sox compare to his stats so far this season: